post tdr recovery for the over 40 crowd?

[TXMTBCHICK]

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[ONEPLUSONEEQUALSONE]

my wife was logged in and i did not notice it  sorry for the blank page above

after completing the TDR earlier this month (4th) i am curious how the over 40 crowd is handling recovery. i am 54 and except for the tour do not do any road riding to speak of. my history: i live in texas so we ride/race almost year round, normally i ride 3-4 times a week and race endurance 4 to 24 hour stuff almost exclusively and always on a ss, so i am used to some long rides. anyway i felt fine reaching AW with only the normal butt problems that i think everyone has. even after getting home and resting a few days i went for some short mtb rides that seemed to go w/o issues. i then started my normal schedule of rides and noticed a distinct lack of power/stamina and after all the road training for months and then doing the tour a noticeable lack of singletrack skills. singletrack skill is better now and i have been taking it fairly ez but still seem to be weaker than normal. some days not so much but then a bad day. anyone else noticing any difference good or bad and how/did you handle recovery?
thx

[Rob Colliver]

I finished in 26 days and my recovery has all been done in the pub - a perfect place to rehydrate and try to put on weight. My arse was sore,  but the achillies has taken longest, only recovering in the past couple of days.

Y O Y would you want to get back into a training regime so soon - chill out and enjoy the rest!

But to answer your question - yes, I'm weaker than a day old kitten.

[DenisVTT]

I'm 52, finished 2nd of the northbound race in 23:09 and change. Took about 2 weeks off with just 3 or 4 light rides in that interval. Back in the swing of things now. I did notice some issues with singletrack skills but that disappeared after about an hour or so. As for lack of stamina, I just thought that was more like a desire to take it easy for a while. But yes, not as sharp, fast or motivated than prior to the race, but I don't think that's unusual or even a real problem. I'm certainly not worried about it.

Besides the butt pain you mentioned, my main "recovery" issue has been sleep deprivation. In the first week or so after coming back home, I took like 4 naps a day! I've also regained about 10 of the 15 pounds I had lost. Not necessarily a good thing.

[Thumby]

Yup Ray, I'm a still a bit slow too on the bike.  Sleeping a ton too, and like Dennis I had many a nap on many a day.  Singletrack skills I think equates to having the ability to generate quick power bursts.  I had none of that ability on the CDT Alt, so I walked most of it.  I've only ridden on the road since TD (for shame!).  Mostly I think the race is so draining that it just takes a long time to get back to your (old) self, so I'm not worried.  I see Northshore on the radar though...
JP 

[Rob Colliver]

Hey JP - we could get some northshore done and some healthy Fernie singletrack and start looking at the BC Bikerace next summer...

[ONEPLUSONEEQUALSONE]

wrong northshore rob. we have a trail here in dallas called NS, but nothing like the real one
jp the CDT part was probably my favorite, singletrack is where it's at....for me
rob, speaking of BC race my wife and i where talking about it on the way home from TDR. looks like a go for next year for me.
also spend a couple of days in arkansas this weekend and things are improving. better climbing power etc. just takes some time i guess.
still down about 10 lbs, not in a hurry to add it back, easier to climb hills!
ray